In the Arms of the Gentle
by I Stare Sometimes
Summary: In a time of myth and a time of magic, there lived a queen of a king. Being unable conceive an heir, her king enlisted the help of a sorceress. They wanted twins; a son for the legacy and a daughter for the kingdom. Unbeknownst to the king and queen, however, was that in order for twins to be born by magic, two lives were to be taken in return. Thus began King Uther's wrath.
**_A/N:_** _SO. I love and hate this show. So much cheese, so little time... But ya. I don't know what I want the pairing to be. It MIGHT be Merlin, it MIGHT be Leon, it MIGHT be Gwaine. It might be a knight love story, there aren't enough of those. Cuz. Like. This show will be the death of me, and it hasn't aired anything in years. Like kill me._

 _So, maybe this is an overplayed idea, but yeah. I made her Arthur's sister. I'm sorry. This is my take on a Pendragon sibling story, seeing as how the only ones I could find... I don't particularly enjoy. They have one-dimensional characters that don't have character development so much as character INVOLVEMENT. I plan to have this story be AU as I see fit, most aspects will be from the show, but there will also be my own take on episodes and also some original story plots. It is fanFICTION, after all, and I think it would be an interesting take to have a character "in the 'verse" that calls out plot holes and stuff like that._

 _I do not own Merlin, because if I did, Morgana would NOT smirk as much as she did, and Freya wouldn't have died, and yadda yadda yadda._

* * *

Through an infinite field of vivid red she ran, not stopping. Her crimson dress blended in with the blades of grass fluidly, and as she moved the grass rippled as if a body of water. She was one with nature here, but the vivid red abruptly turned a shade of green and her dress a shade of cream as she heard a voice call her.

" _My lady_ ," the voice echoed gently, seemingly from everywhere. She wondered what it could be, and why on earth it would take her red fields...

" _My lady_ ," it echoed again, louder, sterner this time, and she was now aware she was in warmth and in the field became dim with nightfall.

"For the love of all that is holy, Mildred! You're acting as bad as the prince!" The voice huffed, and with the grating sound of metal on metal, light flooded the plains and became an unnavigable, horrible flash of white.

"Estelle!" The sleeping woman irritably shouted, as she became more and more painfully aware that she was dreaming in bed, and was being woken up by her maidservant.

Estelle chuckled at her reaction but then started to chastise. "I must say I'm surprised at you, Mildred! It must have been years since I've been the one to wake you! You really shouldn't have let your birthday celebration worry you so much!"

Oh! It was her birthday. How could she forget?

"Estelle, you sound forty years your own senior!" Mildred scolded lightheartedly and rolled over, adjusting her position on her bed, finding the perfect spot that made her drowsy again.

"Please," she mumbled, changing the subject. "If you could draw a bath, dear, I'd appreciate it."

Estelle only stuck her tongue out humorously at the groggy woman and left the room to fetch bath water.

The two women had been together since Estelle had been old enough to attend someone in the castle, and was put in charge of Mildred's life. At least, that's how Mildred saw it.

The two had become fast friends, and while both Estelle and Mildred were quiet, intelligent and respectful women, the friendship they shared could transform them both into a pair immature fools. It was Estelle that taught Mildred, a spoiled child of the king, the value of companionship. If Uther saw how they interacted with each other out of the sight of nobles, he might have Estelle punished for her 'lack of respect'. But the truth was, there was nothing _but_ respect between the two women.

Estelle suddenly returned with a league of servants with varying large buckets of water, some steaming and some not. Mildred removed herself reluctantly from the warmth of her heavy sheets, stretching elegantly as she did.

As the servants one-by-one poured their buckets into a large tub, Estelle expertly instructed the pouring of hot or cold until she believed it to be ready. Over the years, and after a little bit of bickering, Estelle and Mildred had come to a mutual understanding when it came to baths.

It needed to be very hot.

The other servants filed out, leaving with farewells to both women and Estelle wished her a good bath before leaving to give Mildred privacy.

When Mildred had concluded her bath, she wrapped a large towel around her like a shawl and trailed damp footprints to the clothing screen to see what dress Estelle had picked for her and her brother's birthday celebration that night.

Mildred gaped at the glowing garment, as the crimson caught the early morning light that caught the shiny gold in the design embroidered into the dress making it seem to shimmer.

She paused in thought for a moment, barely registering the door opening softly, and clicking shut and being locked for privacy.

How was she expected to have a good celebration with her brother when it was always bringer of the annual displeasure of acknowledging the King's siege on magic?

It always unsettled Mildred, her father's war. While she understood his need to avenge her mother, she couldn't help but feel that he was unfair in his hunts. He never allowed trial. He never allowed mercy. And yet, from what she knew, the sorceress that had murdered the queen was still out there. Uther never told her much, though, so maybe she was mistaken.

"Now, don't tell me you don't appreciate it, my lady," Estelle's voice sounded behind her, her tone careful.

Mildred turned slightly to see her maidservant eyeing her curiously. She must have been staring at the dress for quite a long time...

Mildred flashed her friend a quick, sad smile. "It's absolutely stunning, Estelle. I was just thinking of the.. celebration. The one that follows our birthday."

Mildred watched Estelle's face warp from a flash of pride from the comment of the dress, to instantly go slack when she processed what _exactly_ Mildred was referring to.

Estelle had lost three uncles to Uther's war on magic. They hadn't even known that Uther had suddenly decided to war against magic when they arrived back to his kingdom from traveling abroad in a caravan. The three of Estelle's relatives had led a great chase, though, before being caught and slaughtered less than a decade prior.

Estelle had been close to her uncles. Estelle even had magic in her as well, but Mildred refused to let Estelle know she knew. Not only that, but she had made sure that Uther would never find out Estelle's familial connections.

There was suddenly a sound of someone attempting the door _before_ knocking, alerting the stirred women to immediately know who it was.

"Only be a moment, my lord!" Estelle called when Mildred hadn't found her voice quickly enough.

"If you could just make the bed while I dress in my sparring garb, I'd be grateful, Estelle," Mildred requested kindly and quietly. Somber thoughts always brought Mildred's attitude away from her carefreeness.

She had dressed quickly enough to beat Estelle in the remaking of her plush bed and rushed to the door, aching to distract herself from her and her brother's birthday.

But, alas, she was scooped up the immediate moment she unlocked and opened the door by a grinning buffoon singing a foolish version of the tune sang to one on a day like this.

"Arthur!" Mildred groaned loudly as she was picked off her feet knocking the air out of her as he danced around her spacious room as if an oversized doll.

To annoy him, she quit struggling and purposefully went limp.

He grunted and started to laugh as he almost lost balance due to her sudden weight.

"I know we're growing stouter, Red," the man commented with a feigned air of poshness, "but honestly, you _must_ lay off the chocolate cake. I swear, you weigh the same as Eris!" Eris was her horse. Her gypsy vanner horse.

With an affronted gasp, she laughed despite herself at his empty insult. Mildred gained her footing quickly and hit her brother on his shoulder as well as she could for such close proximity.

The two twins were practically identical even in height. Despite Arthur having a few of Uthur's features, and Mildred more of their mother's (so they were told), they shared the same warm, blue eyes and hair as golden as the fairest of wheat.

"Happy birthday, brother," Mildred stated with her voice still tinged with laughter from his earlier insult.

"Happy birthday, sister," he replied with the same tone.

They gazed into each other's identical eyes with fond smiles for a moment before they simultaneously embraced each other affectionately.

Estelle watched silently, smiling fondly, but looked away before too long for fear of intruding on their affectionate moment. While the royals did show affection as typically as siblings would, they saved the _overly_ affectionate embraces for special occasions.

Arthur broke away first, pulling far enough away so they were still in each other's arms, their hands resting on the other's crooks of the elbow.

"You ready to spar with the knights and I?" Arthur asked with feigned grandeur.

It was simply a humorous formality when she was to spar with the men for Arthur to ask this question, just as it was that Mildred would always answer the same way.

"Of course I'm ready, you slug-brain."

They shared a varying smirk (not all things were identical) and started to walk together towards the training fields, arm-in-arm.

* * *

With a swift parry and a clever duck, she sent the knight Leon toppling down over himself with a teasing laugh.

"Come, Sir Leon! Surely you have better than that!" She taunted with another peel of laughter. Then men circling the two sparring partners were chuckling goodheartedly.

Leon scoffed with feigned offense, "My lady, I would never bestow upon you the humiliation of defeat!"

"That is a bold-faced lie if I've ever heard one, my dear Leon," Mildred retorted with an unladylike snort.

She had been beaten many times by this man.

Her status meant little to him on the sparring grounds. The two always sparred to the best of their ability and whoever won, did.

Leon let out a laugh as he feinted to the right to take her in her less dominant side, but she quickly spun under his swing in a blur and, upon finding herself behind a disoriented knight, brought her wooden blade to rest squarely upon the back of his neck with a slap as the flat of it met the exposed skin of his neck.

Mildred smirked, posed as if she had finished a ballet; poised, straight, and balanced with a hand gracefully posed behind her back. "Check and mate, Leon."

Leon was still - besides his heavy breathing - as the crowd of men around them was silent for a few long moments.

She hadn't displayed her agility like that before. It was well known among the knights that she was swifter than any of them, but they were stunned by her duck.

"Do you submit?" She grinned, flashing white teeth and oceanic blue eyes twinkling with mirth.

Leon pulled a face, but not in bad sport. "Obviously," he snorted.

"Obviously," she agreed confidently, with a satisfied nod and a wide grin as she perused the faces around them. Her glance settled on the proud and identical gaze of her brother.

They shared similar grins and Arthur nodded in satisfaction as he walked forward to her. "That was a stunning display of footwork, sister."

His words were spoken with formality, but the humorous glint in his eye betrayed his serious tone.

If possible, Mildred's grin grew warm. "Thank you, Arthur," she uttered with a small curtsey.

Suddenly, Arthur nodded to something over her shoulder, and Mildred turned to see Estelle hurrying over to where they were. As she approached, she curtseyed low and said with almost sarcastic grandeur, "My lieges; the king hath ordered me to bequeath the knowledge that your birthday dinner is close to being prepared and therefore, should be clothed appropriately for a celebratory feast!"

"Oh, Estelle and your theatrics!" Arthur laughed, turning to Mildred. "I'll see you then, Red."

Mildred ruffled the hair upon his head with a chuckle, and joined her maidservant's side.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** So yeah!_

 _I hope you guys like this... I don't know what to do with it exactly yet, so we'll see how it goes! Cuz, I have some serious things that may or may not happen to her to make this a really dark story, that may or may not happen sooner or later. Maybe._

 _Leave a review! I love input and constructive criticism, and all I ask is respect when dealt it!_


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